The Greenhouse environmental humanities group at the University of Stavanger is organizing a year-long program in 2022/23 on Green Transitions seen through the lens of the environmental arts and humanities. The keystone of the program is an international art/science workshop leading to a book and exhibition on Green Transitions, paired with scholar and artist residencies in Stavanger.
With this call, we are inviting applications from scholars and artists to spend one month in residency in Stavanger, Norway, for critical explorations of the concept of green transitions.
The green transition has gained cultural and political salience as a response to environmental issues, in particular climate change. Within technology and allied fields, it is often envisioned that green transition is something that will happen through better or different technology. We wish to invite scholars and artists to consider green transitions with a critical eye. What pasts are we transitioning from and what futures are we transitioning towards? How do local and global histories and cultural contexts shape the potential for green transitions? How might we learn from past green transitions in envisioning new futures? How can visions of the future in literature and art contribute to our current transitions? And who are “we” anyway? Whose transitions are we talking about? How might green transitions be unjust and how might they be shifted towards justice?
Our Greenhouse Green Transitions Fellows will participate in a three-day art/science workshop on green transitions in Stavanger, 17-19 November 2022. Linked to this workshop, scholars and artists will work in residence for a month in Stavanger to have the space and time to explore green transitions and prepare their contributions – or refine their contribution after the workshop. These stays will take place between 15 August and 15 December 2022. We will bring the guest researchers/artists in residence back to Stavanger for the workshop or arrange for remote participation if necessary. Contributors to the workshop will be expected to produce a text of approximately 3000-4000 words for the volume. Artist contributions will include images of the artworks and reflective texts based on the artwork. Participation at the workshop will also be possible without residencies; a separate call for participation will be issued shortly.
During the residency, the Fellows will have lodging at Hotel Ydalir on campus paid for, a workspace, and access to the Greenhouse environmental humanities research library. Artists will also have access to the UiS Didactic Digital Workshop, which has a makerspace with 3D printers, virtual reality equipment, workstations, drones, etc. There are also various craft workshops available at campus that can be used. While the residency does not include salary, we will cover travel to and from Stavanger in addition to the lodging. Fellows who are not currently in salaried positions may request an honorarium of up to 15,000 NOK for a full month stay.
Fellows will be expected to participate in Greenhouse events, including our weekly book talks and lunches, and to present their ongoing work to the local group during their time in Stavanger.
To apply, send a statement of interest (max 2 pages outlining your goal for the residency and your envisioned contribution to the workshop) and your CV. Fellows may stay at UiS between 15 August and 15 December. Please indicate the date range(s) within this period you would be available for your stay.
Send the documents in PDF format to Greenhouse directors Dolly Jørgensen and Finn Arne Jørgensen at greenhouse@uis.no, no later than 22 April 2022. Inquiries about the fellowships can also be sent to this email address.
We anticipate funding eight fellows under this call.
The Greenhouse is one of the leading environmental humanities groups in Europe. We host weekly online book talks, weekly lunch meetings, regular international research talks, and much more. Our Greenhouse library is one of the largest dedicated environmental humanities book collections in the world. We are hosts for the 2022 Agricultural History Society annual conference, “Greening the Field(s),” and co-organizers (with UiO and UiB) of the 2023 Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries annual conference, “Sustainability: Environment - Data – Community.” The Greenhouse leads the Norwegian Researcher School in Environmental Humanities and the Asia-Norway Environmental Storytelling Network (both funded by the Research Council of Norway). We are also home to many research projects funded by RCN and the EU. In 2019, the Greenhouse organized a very successful art/science workshop on clouds in art and science that resulted in the book Silver Linings (Museumsforlaget 2020).
Stavanger is the third-largest metropolitan area in Norway, with a long industrial history of fishing and then oil from the 1970s onwards. The larger region is also known for agriculture and wool production. The University of Stavanger has identified the green transition as overarching principle of its current 10-year strategy plan.